Help Identify Door Hardware

[jazz4cash]

A family friend bought an 1865 farmhouse in the Northern Neck area of VA. This thing is on the front door at the bottom on the interior. The local locksmith says “I’ve never seen one of those”!

 

[pb4uski]

A door stop of some sort?

 

[latexman]

Hands free door opener

 

[jazz4cash]

Hands free door opener

From the Pandemic of 1865? Seriously it does remind me of the foot pulls that have been added to doors in public restrooms since the pandemic.

 

[Sunset]

It's patented Aug 5, 1920.

Does it move, like you would open the door and then press down 1 end (right end) so it would hook onto something to hold the door open ?

 

[RobbieB]

It's a latch. You can see the hinge on the right and it latches on the left and guided by the half moon.

 

[jazz4cash]

Thanks. I’ll have to check it out some more. It’s a French door that’s hardly ever used. You can see it’s been painted shut in the past. Robbies probably right. It’s a quirky old house.

 

[Jerry1]

It's a latch. You can see the hinge on the right and it latches on the left and guided by the half moon.

I agree. Can you zoom back and show a picture of the entire door?

 

[street]

I agree with a latch/lock type of hardware with Robbie. If it was a French door, it would latch one side or unlatch to open both.

 

[jazz4cash]

Sorry I don’t have a better picture and it’ll be a long while before I get back down there. I would’ve expected the local locksmith to know if it was a doorstop or latch. My friend was told many homes of that era had no way to lock the door when the residents left.